The Michigan Veterans’ Facility (formerly the Michigan Soldiers’ Home) was authorized by Act 152 of the Public Acts of 1885, which provided for the establishment of a home for disabled Michigan veterans. This act resulted from the efforts of Civil War veterans who were members of the Grand Army of the Republic. The buildings served Civil War veterans until 1938, when the last resident veteran of that conflict died.

In April 1886 the board of managers of the Michigan Veterans’ Facility set aside five acres for a cemetery. The Grand Rapids posts of the Grand Army of the Republic dedicated the cemetery on Memorial Day, May 31, 1886. The original cemetery was designed in the form of a Maltese cross with 262 grave sites in each of its four sections. In 1894 a granite statue of a Civil War soldier was placed in the center of the cross. By the time of its centennial in 1986, the cemetery had recorded over 4,000 burials of veterans and their dependents.

Only residents of the Veteran’s Home can be buried at the cemetery. It is one of five VA cemeteries in Michigan.

Fort Custer National Cemetery in Augusta (Battle Creek)

Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly

Lakeside Cemetery Soldiers’ Lot in Port Huron

Fort Mackinac Post Cemetery on Mackinac Island

Thank you for Subscribing to Lost In Michigan, If you have not subscribed yet, It would mean a lot to me if you did. 

I visit many old cemeteries in my travels around Michigan learning about the state’s past. I usually see little American flags flying at some of the markers reminding me of the people who risked their lives defending our freedoms. The cemetery behind the church in Indianville near Burt Lake has several simple wooden crosses and the flags are reminders that Veterans can come from anywhere. From big cities to small remote villages in northern Michigan.

Thank you for Subscribing to Lost In Michigan, If you have not subscribed yet, It would mean a lot to me if you did. 

The Post Cemetery is one of only four National Cemeteries with the honor of permanently flying the American flag at half mast. The cemetery is the final resting place for Fort Mackinac soldiers, their families, and local officials. The small cemetery on Mackinac Island is surrounded by a white picket fence with a wooden archway, and  had a canon from Fort Sumter South Carolina on display. Of the approximately 108 burials in Fort Mackinac Post Cemetery, 69 are unknown,. The origin of the cemetery is lost to poor record keeping in the early 1800’s but local lore from the nineteenth century suggests that both American and British War of 1812 soldiers are buried here. Many early burials were marked with simple wooden crosses that have long since decayed and disappeared. As a result many of the burials are unknown.

Among the burials is German-born Civil war veteran Ignatius Goldhofer who came to Fort Mackinac in 1896 with a variety of ailments and old wounds. When he died three years later his wife and four children buried him in the Post Cemetery.

Civilian Interments include Edward Biddle who served the community as sheriff, village president and surveyor in the mid nineteenth century. In the 1880’s Lieutenant Calvin Cowles and his wife Mary buried their infant children Josiah and Isabel next to each other in the shaded northeast corner of the cemetery.

P.S. The others Cemeteries that fly the flag at half mast are: the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (the Punchbowl) in Honolulu, Hawaii, Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, and National Cemetery at Gettysburg in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Thank you for Subscribing to Lost In Michigan, If you have not subscribed yet, It would mean a lot to me if you did. 

March 13th, is K9 Veteran’s Day. It was on March 13, 1942, that the Army began training for its new War Dog Program, also known as the “K-9 Corps,” It was the first time that dogs were officially a part of the U.S. Armed Forces. Thank you to all the working dogs and their handlers for their service and dedication.

At the corner of Milford Rd and 11 Mile Near South Lyon is the Michigan War Dog Memorial.  The site was set up by the Elkow family in 1936 and known as “Happy Hunting Grounds Pet Cemetery.” In  1946 when the news of how many lives were saved by War Dogs during WWII  local residents raised money to install a monument to show their respect to the heroic K-9’s. Present At dedication of the 16-ton granite monument was a doberman pinscher named Sargent Sparks, a Marine Corps  scout and messenger dog that carried messages and medical supplies at  Guadalcanal and Okinawa. A year after the dedication, someone poisoned Sgt. Sparks near his Rochester home.  His master requested that he be buried wrapped only in a blanket, like so many of his buddies at the beaches. he was laid to rest at the base of the monument.

Probably the most famous dog buried at the cemetery is “Blizzard,” one of Admiral Byrd’s lead sled dogs.  He was at the Chicago Worlds Fair and was sold to people who lived in Windsor. When Blizzard died in 1937 at 12 years of age, he was buried at the cemetery.  Along with Blizzard, is a parrot that was on Admiral Dewey’s flagship that was owned by the city of Detroit when he died at 86 years. (Parrots can live to be 150 years old)

The Final Resting Place for Admiral Byrd’s sled dog “Blizzard”

If a military working dog is killed in action or at home base, there is a memorial and burial with honors; however, if the Veterinary Corps retires a military working dog, and it is adopted out and dies the Michigan War Dog Memorial and Cemetery is a place for a heroic K-9 to be laid to rest at no cost to the handler/owner. There have been several dogs who served from all wars since 1936 that have been laid to rest along with police K-9s and other loyal working dogs.

you can find out more about the Memorial and Cemetery at their website HERE

Thank you for Subscribing to Lost In Michigan, If you have not subscribed yet, It would mean a lot to me if you did. 

This castle-like gate is at the entrance to Elm Lawn Cemetery in Bay City. It was built in the 1890s at a time when cemeteries were built to be more of a park like setting and people would come a relax while spending time visiting deceased relatives and loved ones. Several of Bay City’s early prominent residents are laid to rest at Elm Lawn including several lumber barons and a few U.S. Congressmen.

Thank you for Subscribing to Lost In Michigan, If you have not subscribed yet, It would mean a lot to me if you did.